Great Communities Toolkit
The Great Communities Toolkit is a free compendium of resources to help those advocating for sound transit station development. The toolkit was developed to help community groups shape Great Communities around transit, by helping them make sure these plans will result in neighborhoods of affordable homes, shops, accessible job centers, and community services. With this toolkit, you will have the tools influence your city’s plans for neighborhoods near transit.
You can review and download all or individual sections of the Great Communities Tookit from the list below. A few of our handouts are also available in Spanish or Chinese. All files are in Adobe Acrobat Reader format.
Most content was last updated in October 2009. Download the Complete Toolkit [13.4MB, .PDF]
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
- Why do we need a Great Communities Collaborative?
- Transit Station Area Plans and TOD: Bay Area Opportunities
2. Handouts: What Makes a Great Community?
- What is Transit-Oriented Development? English | Spanish
- Great Communities and Affordable Housing English | Spanish
- The Benefits of Compact Development
- Traffic-Lite: Great Communities Have Less Traffic
- Rational Parking English | Spanish
- Preventing Displacement English | Spanish
- Incorporating Community Benefit
- Design for Walking and Biking
- Creating Quality Public Spaces
- Green Development
- Vibrant Neighborhood Businesses and Great Communities
- Great Communities Take Care of Children and Families
- Planning for Safe and Convenient Senior Mobility English | Spanish | Chinese
- Great Communities Create Less Air Pollution
- Policy Checklist
3. Developing a Station Area Plan Campaign
- Advocating for a High Quality Transit Station Area Plan
- Typical City Process and Timeline for Developing a Transit Station Area Plan
- Designing a Campaign Plan
- Goals, Strategies and Tactics
- Developing a Platform
- Building a Coalition
- Event Planning
- Sample Letter to City Council
- How to Engage your Constituency: Focus Groups
- Part 1: Securing Media Stories for your Station Area Plan Campaign
- Part 2: Getting Media Coverage—Moving your Advocacy Agenda
- Part 3: Media Campaign Checklist
- Press Advisories and Press Releases
- How to Hold a Press Conference
- Editorials, Opinion Editorials and Letters to the Editor
5. Appendices
- Policy Fact Sheets:
- Planning Process 101
- Greenbelt Alliance Compact Development Guidelines
- Compact Development
- Parking and Transportation Demand Management
- Preventing Displacement
- Complete Streets
- Quality Public Parks and Open Spaces
- Green Building in Transit-Oriented Neighborhoods
- Great Communities Take Care of Senior Mobility Needs
- TOD Stories
- Urbemis: A New Era in Traffic Modeling